Die Studie hat ergeben, dass städtische Gebiete die gleichen universellen Regeln befolgen, die in der natürlichen Welt beobachtet wurden, von Bevölkerungsgröße bis hin zu Kohlenstoffemissionen und Straßennetzwerken
https://actu.epfl.ch/news/cities-obey-the-same-laws-of-living-systems/
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>The scientists examined three variables: urban population (analogous to an animal’s mass), carbon emissions (equivalent to the metabolic rate of a living organism) and road networks (the circulatory system). “When properly rescaled, we found that the probability distributions of these variables follow a unique curve for all cities – large and small – implying that urban form and functions are governed by universal laws similar to those that apply to living organisms,” says Gabriele Manoli, the study’s corresponding author and head of EPFL’s Laboratory of Urban and Environmental Systems (URBES).
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>The findings also suggest that a form of self-organization naturally emerges as cities grow – although, as Manoli explains, there is one important caveat: “Contrary to what’s often been claimed, large cities aren’t necessarily more sustainable than small ones – what matters is the covariation in space of population density, transport networks, and economic activities, which are all inter-related.”
>For Manoli, these findings mark an important step forward for urban research: “We have mathematically demonstrated that the spatial organization of cities exhibits general emergent properties despite geographical, political, and historical differences – therefore, planners need to take a systemic approach and consider the complex and dynamic nature of urban evolution.” He also argues that cities resemble living organisms rather than controllable machines. For him, any effort to design more sustainable territories should therefore go beyond single sectors and operations: planning should consider entire urban areas, their multi-scale behavior, and their continuous exchanges with the surrounding, almost global, environment. “Thanks to the vast amount of data available, cities offer a fertile ground to test new theories inspired by biology and ecology” Manoli said.
[A stochastic theory of urban metabolism | PNAS](https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2501224122)
Having traveled a fair bit, I’m always looking at the road networks of various cities.
On the one hand, you’ve got Boston with very organic feeling roads. Everything twists and turns rolling some old pre-colonial coyote trail, that eventually became a horse path, a wagon trail, and then a city street.
On the other hand, Manhattan and Salt Lake City with their very rigid grid patterns and numbering schemes. It does feel unnatural, but still appealing to my “right-angle-loving” brain.